5 Ways to Show Kindness at Home

Did you know that this week is Random Acts of Kindness week? One of my favorite quotes about kindness is from Aesop: "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." My new picture book The Backpack teaches kindness and treating others how we wish to be treated. It's now available on Amazon.

The way I think about kindness is - how would I like to be treated? What would make me smile?

Here are five ways to show kindness at home:

1. Help with a monotonous chore. In my household, I LOVE when my husband does the dishes. My 5 year-old is also really good at unloading the bottom rack while I unload the top. The dishes are never ending and super boring, so I always appreciate it when I get some help.

2. Say yes once in awhile to something you usually say no to. For my family, we only drink water with dinner. Sometimes my kids ask for chocolate milk and every now and then I say sure! It's something really small, but they think it's a big deal and are excited!

3. Pack a note in a lunchbox or send a sweet text to your partner. This is easy to do and lets your loved ones know that you care and are thinking about them. My youngest doesn't read yet, so I just draw a smiley face or heart.

4. Let the little things go... I admittedly have trouble with the constant mess and cleaning up over and over again. But, sometimes I just let me kids go and create a mess and have fun and I don't say a word about cleaning up during the fun time!

5. Get favorite snacks together. My husband loves Almond Joy, I love Junior Mints, one son loves Nerds and one son loves Starbursts. Every so often I'll pick up all our favorite candy as a little kindness buffet and we all enjoy some sugar for dessert and talk about our days.

I hope these five ways to show kindness at home inspire you to pass on a little kindness today!

What about you? What are some of the ways you show kindness in your home? Let me know in a comment below!